Nell'amore in Italia: Do as the Romans do.

Day 3-September 10, 2010: Our alarm clock didn't go off and we woke up two hours late. I wasn't overly thrilled but we definitely needed the sleep. The day didn't get much better when we wasted time heading to the Vatican only to find that the lines were far too long for us to make our Borghese Gallery reservation. We decided just to head for Villa Borghese, which is the very beautiful and relaxing park in the middle of Rome that is home to the Borghese Gallery. On our way over to the Villa Borghese, we walked through the Piazza de Popolo which is one of the most popular squares in Rome. It's well known for the two identical buildings on one side of the square. The Borghese Gallery had my favorite art exhibits of the whole trip. The gallery was originally put together by Cardinal Scipion in the 1800s. A lot of the artwork was a bit edgy for a member of the church. The gallery houses Bernini's David which in my opinion is a more accurate rendition than Michelangelo's. I personally fell in love with Bernini's work (with a little encouragement from my good friend Lacie before the trip). Another interesting piece by Bernini in the gallery is his Apollo and Daphne, "depicting the chaste nymph Daphne being turned into a laurel tree, pursued in vain by Apollo god of light" (http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edafne.htm). The Cardinal justified his inclusion of the pagan sculpture in his collection with the plaque underneath which reads, Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands. We enjoyed quite a laugh at that one :-)

We grabbed lunch at a stand nearby before heading to the Vatican. I remember that I got a very yummy "pizza" that was some kind of crescent roll type bread with a thin layer of marinara and cheese in the middle.Oh yeah! I forgot about our scooter fiasco earlier in the morning after we found out the Vatican lines were too long. We tried to rent scooters from a little Indian man who was very, very concerned about us renting scooters in Rome. While we figured out why later, at the time we were quite annoyed that he wouldn't work with us. Unfortunately, we just had to hoof it all over Rome for the day. The Vatican Museum was pretty amazing and the Cistene Chapel was definitely a must. It's amazing that one man painted it all. Our feet were pretty much completely broken at that point, but we headed to St. Peter's Cathedral which was definitely worth the pain. The place is huge and utterly beyond words. Nate's still talking about it pretty regularly. You really can't explain in words or even with pictures how large the cathedral is. It's basically shaped like a cross if you were looking at the building overhead from the sky. The long part is the nave and the two parts out to the sides are the transepts. Just to get a little idea of how big it is, the dome in the middle where the nave and the transepts meet is the same size as that of the Pantheon. We have a picture from the front door and you can barely see a spot of light at the very end of the nave. That "spot" is actually a glass window dove that it twice the width of an average man's width from fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched.

After Peter's Cathedral, we took a taxi to Trevi Fountain which was very beautiful at night. We had a very pleasant dinner in a third story cafe overlooking the fountain. Our waiter was a Mexican looking Italian who also spoke good English and was very friendly. Then, we walked over to the Spanish steps which was the famous location for Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. On our way back to the metro, we grabbed desert. Nate had gelato but I got a nutella filled crepe which was the beginning of a life long loving relationship. Needless to say, when we got back to the hotel, we asked for a wake-up call the following morning so that we didn't repeat the same events of the morning....unfortunately it wasn't early enough!